Poland Doubled Its Defense Budget. Much of the Cash Went Abroad
Chaotic planning and underinvestment mean that billions of dollars in Polish defense spending have gone overseas, rather than to the state-backed PGZ.
Three 155mm fragmentation and demolition shells on a cart at the Nitro-Chem SA ammunition factory in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2023.
Photographer: Damian Lemanski/Bloomberg
Earlier this year, Poland’s minister of national defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz spoke with his Swedish counterpart Pal Jonson, and the conversation turned to procurement. The Swedes were aware that they sold a lot to Poland, from ships to planes to anti-tank missiles, Kosiniak-Kamysz recalled. They wanted to know what they could buy in return.
“Our flagship product that could be sold is Piorun,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, referring to a portable anti-aircraft missile launcher, manufactured by Mesko, a subsidiary of the state-owned defense conglomerate Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, or PGZ. But Poland simply doesn’t make enough; the single production line making the weapons is at full capacity. “There is a waiting list for this from many places in Europe,” the minister told Bloomberg.